Coop warmer and other things

I have four out of my six chickens that are moulting, two of them heavily. We live in New England and it has been rather nippy here at night. Normally my girls can handle the cold no problem. But since they've been moulting they have been a little cold. The moulting hens spend a good part of the day in the coop except when they want to eat.

So I came up a very inexpensive idea for a simple but effective heater.

If you look at the light itself, there are vent holes at the top near the bulb housing. The bulb does not overheat at all. Remember, this is being used in cold weather.

As for the rivets, as I mentioned in the video, I used them because that is what I had. Self tapping sheet metal screws would be ideal. As for changing the bulb, I am not very concerned for two reasons. I will not need to use this very often because I only need it when they are moulting. Otherwise they don't need heat. But if I do need to change the bulb, they are only aluminum rivets. I just cut off the bottom of the rivet with a pair of dykes. I actually already did this because I originally used a 40 watt bulb but it was not hot enough to heat the panel.

As I mentioned in the vid, the point here is creating a solution with what you already have lying around. I could have bought a ceramic heater that screws into the light socket but they cost about $20. I was able to make this for free with things I already had lying around. Of course there is always going to be someone that has a better idea but for me the operative idea is 'inexpensive' or better yet 'free'.